Books: Casanova
Casanova: Actor, Lover, Priest, Spy brings to life the world’s most famous lover - 3 Stars ***
By Gabrielle Pantera
Actor-writer Ian Kelly reveals Casanova
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 12/25/2008 - “I’ve just wrapped in a new film about Darwin, with Jennifer Connolly,” says Creation star Ian Kelly who plays Captain Fitzroy of The Beagle. Kelly is both an actor and a writer. Two of Kelly’s books have been adapted, one as a play, one a TV movie. Kelly’s latest book is Casanova: Actor Lover Priest Spy.
Kelly’s writing is engaging and will hold your interest. He knows how to tell a story. Kelly’s portrait of Casanova is complex, yet straightforward. Everyone remembers Casanova as a womanizer, but he was also a philosopher, studied natural remedies and wrote extensively of his travels.
“Lots of actors write,” says Kelly. “In some cases I have ended up playing the role of somebody whose biography I wrote, which counts are excessive research! Some directors are wary of actors who write, and of intelligent actors and actresses generally, but these are not the directors one would want to work with anyway.”
“Researching my first book, a biography, play and screenplay on Napoleon’s chef, I became aware that Casanova is the most lucid and comprehensive source on 18th century food,” says Kelly. “He writes more about food than about almost anything else, including love and sex, such that I considered straight away writing a book just about Casanova as a food writer. It became a much bigger subject when I realized there was so much new material. He was more than just a Lothario. What he wrote about love and sex was truly revolutionary.”
“Casanova traveled very widely, which, happily, obliged me to follow in his footsteps,” says Kelly. “I spent a great deal of time in Venice, in the files of the Venetian Inquisition, in the Prague State Archives which houses thousands of his personal papers and letters, in St Petersburg, the Vatican Library, Paris, Moscow, London and the castle where he lived wrote and died in the Czech Republic.”
“I believe in going back to original sources whenever possible, and also in physical research,” says Kelly. “Walking in his footsteps in Venice, London , St Petersburg, it can pay unexpected dividends For instance I found his collection of recipes and his notes about his own erotic dreams. The funniest thing that happened was probably being told in the castle where Casanova wrote and died that I could sleep in the archive there, amongst his papers, if I was willing to share the space with the curator’s collection of salamanders.”
Casanova: Actor, Lover, Priest, Spy is Ian Kelly’s third book. His first book was Cooking for Kings, the Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef. His second book was Beau Brummell, The Ultimate Dandy. “I’m working on a screenplay and also a play, both provisionally titled Casanova in London, where he tried to commit suicide, and on his collaboration with da Ponte on Mozart’s Don Giovanni,” says Kelly.
Ian Kelly was born in Cambridge, UK, and grew up in Philadelphia . His parents are academics. His father taught at the University of Pennsylvania and then brought the family back to Europe. Kelly is performing through February at the National Theatre in London as one of the leads in The Pitman Painters, by Lee Hall who wrote Billy Elliot. Kelly lives in London. He’ll move to New York when Pitmen Painters comes to Broadway next year.
In Casanova: Actor Lover Priest Spy, Kelly focuses on Casanova’s love for the dramatic. Kelly used letters and physical research to go beyond details in Casanova’s book Histoire de ma vie. Casanova wrote about his encounters with women, his travels and the food he ate. It may be said Casanova loved food as much a women.
Kelly’s Casanova is a delicious book for those who enjoy 18th century history, food and love.
Casanova: Actor, Lover, Priest, Spy by Ian Kelly
Hardcover, 416 pages
Publisher: Tarcher
Release Date: October 16, 2008
ISBN: 978-1585426584